Overview

I'm an editor with experience at all stages of the editing process, from heavy content edits to final proofreads and writing back cover copy. I've worked with several small publishers on fiction, nonfiction, and even poetry. I enjoy working on fiction in most genres, and I especially love middle-grade and young adult fantasy.

Depending on the nature and status of your project, I offer a thorough critique focusing on characterization and motivation, plot, and worldbuilding.

Editor

Self-employed

Editorial Intern

Etruscan Press

Portfolio (12 selected works)

THE PERFECT FAMILY Sheila O’Rourke has always known her husband isn’t perfect. Who is? But things have been better since they moved to Seattle to make a fresh start. So much so that when sixteen-year-old Eden turns up, claiming to be Dylan’s child by another woman, Sheila tries to be welcoming. CAN BECOME At first, Sheila feels sympathy for the girl. Eden’s mother recently fell to her death in... read more

THE PERFECT FAMILY Sheila O’Rourke has always known her husband isn’t perfect. Who is? But things have been better since they moved to Seattle to make a fresh start. So much so that when sixteen-year-old Eden turns up, claiming to be Dylan’s child by another woman, Sheila tries to be welcoming. CAN BECOME At first, Sheila feels sympathy for the girl. Eden’s mother recently fell to her death in... read more

Halloween on Mackinac Island is a season of fun tricks, but finding a corpse is no treat for fudge shop owner Allie McMurphy . . . NIGHT OF THE REALLY DEAD It’s late October, off-season for tourists, but locals are up and lurching for the annual zombie walk charity event. Though everyone’s living it up, trouble is a just a few pawprints away. Allie’s followed the bloody tracks of her calico ca... read more

Halloween on Mackinac Island is a season of fun tricks, but finding a corpse is no treat for fudge shop owner Allie McMurphy . . . NIGHT OF THE REALLY DEAD It’s late October, off-season for tourists, but locals are up and lurching for the annual zombie walk charity event. Though everyone’s living it up, trouble is a just a few pawprints away. Allie’s followed the bloody tracks of her calico ca... read more

Does eating sugar cause yeast infections? Does pubic hair have a function? Should you have a vulvovaginal care regimen? Will your vagina shrivel up if you go without sex? What’s the truth about the HPV vaccine? So many important questions, so much convincing, confusing, contradictory misinformation! In this age of click bait, pseudoscience, and celebrity-endorsed products, it’s easy to be over... read more

Does eating sugar cause yeast infections? Does pubic hair have a function? Should you have a vulvovaginal care regimen? Will your vagina shrivel up if you go without sex? What’s the truth about the HPV vaccine? So many important questions, so much convincing, confusing, contradictory misinformation! In this age of click bait, pseudoscience, and celebrity-endorsed products, it’s easy to be over... read more

Hook Your Audience with Unforgettable Storytelling! What do Luke Skywalker, John McClane, an da lonely dog on Ho'okipa Beach have in common? Simply put, we care about them. Great storytelling is making readers care about your characters, the choices they make, and what happens to them. It's making your audience feel the tension and emotion of a situation right alongside your protagonist. And t... read more

Hook Your Audience with Unforgettable Storytelling! What do Luke Skywalker, John McClane, an da lonely dog on Ho'okipa Beach have in common? Simply put, we care about them. Great storytelling is making readers care about your characters, the choices they make, and what happens to them. It's making your audience feel the tension and emotion of a situation right alongside your protagonist. And t... read more

The definitive guide to writing scenes--now revised and expanded! Scenes are the building blocks for any work of fiction--the DNA sequence that makes a novel un-put-downable and unforgettable. When writers are able to craft effective, engaging scenes, they can develop a complete, cohesive story--and a mesmerizing experience for readers.Make a Scene Revised and Expanded Edition takes you step-b... read more

The definitive guide to writing scenes--now revised and expanded! Scenes are the building blocks for any work of fiction--the DNA sequence that makes a novel un-put-downable and unforgettable. When writers are able to craft effective, engaging scenes, they can develop a complete, cohesive story--and a mesmerizing experience for readers.Make a Scene Revised and Expanded Edition takes you step-b... read more

Will Dowd takes us on a whimsical journey through one year of New England weather in this engaging collection of essays. As unpredictable as its subject, Areas of Fog combines wit and poetry with humor and erudition. A fun, breezy, and discursive read, it is an intellectual game that exposes the artificiality of genres. Will Dowd is a writer and artist based outside Boston. He earned an MFA in... read more

Will Dowd takes us on a whimsical journey through one year of New England weather in this engaging collection of essays. As unpredictable as its subject, Areas of Fog combines wit and poetry with humor and erudition. A fun, breezy, and discursive read, it is an intellectual game that exposes the artificiality of genres. Will Dowd is a writer and artist based outside Boston. He earned an MFA in... read more

With a lyricism that is both delicate and painful, Rough Ground explores the devastating consequences of trauma on our ability to speak about the world. Based upon Wittgenstein’s Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, Rough Ground distills philosophical speculation to poetic text, enacting an utterance almost beyond speech. While the philosopher concludes “that which we cannot speak about, we must pa... read more

With a lyricism that is both delicate and painful, Rough Ground explores the devastating consequences of trauma on our ability to speak about the world. Based upon Wittgenstein’s Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, Rough Ground distills philosophical speculation to poetic text, enacting an utterance almost beyond speech. While the philosopher concludes “that which we cannot speak about, we must pa... read more

Zarathustra Must Die is a fictional memoir of a graduate student's odyssey through the thought of Friedrich Nietzsche—a journey that is far more than purely intellectual. Through many states of consciousness, Dorian Alexander finally comes to realize the nature of time and its role in human existence.Dorian Alexander is the pen name of a prominent philosopher and scientist. Zarathustra Must Di... read more

Zarathustra Must Die is a fictional memoir of a graduate student's odyssey through the thought of Friedrich Nietzsche—a journey that is far more than purely intellectual. Through many states of consciousness, Dorian Alexander finally comes to realize the nature of time and its role in human existence.Dorian Alexander is the pen name of a prominent philosopher and scientist. Zarathustra Must Di... read more

In unbidden moments, Donata Polo, wife of Marco Polo, turns to perceive a Venice accelerating from Mediterranean port to global hub. In peripatetic visits to market she reflects upon the erotics and economics of interactions between continents East and West, recognizing camaraderie with people from other lands affected by new webs of trade.

In unbidden moments, Donata Polo, wife of Marco Polo, turns to perceive a Venice accelerating from Mediterranean port to global hub. In peripatetic visits to market she reflects upon the erotics and economics of interactions between continents East and West, recognizing camaraderie with people from other lands affected by new webs of trade.

Aard-vark to Axolotl, an eclectic series of tiny essays, is a collection of prose poems disguised as imaginary definitions, and a collaboration of text + image based on a set of illustrations from an old dictionary. Sometimes sneaky mysterious, sometimes downright weird, these small stories work on the reader like alternative definitions for items drawn from a cabinet of curiosities.

Aard-vark to Axolotl, an eclectic series of tiny essays, is a collection of prose poems disguised as imaginary definitions, and a collaboration of text + image based on a set of illustrations from an old dictionary. Sometimes sneaky mysterious, sometimes downright weird, these small stories work on the reader like alternative definitions for items drawn from a cabinet of curiosities.

Ill Angels explores the cul-de-sacs and jubilees of early midlife. In poems that are at once formally assured and daringly inventive, Dante Di Stefano invokes the lives of artists, musicians, and writers he admires as his poems ruminate on love, death, music, language, and notions of national belonging.

Ill Angels explores the cul-de-sacs and jubilees of early midlife. In poems that are at once formally assured and daringly inventive, Dante Di Stefano invokes the lives of artists, musicians, and writers he admires as his poems ruminate on love, death, music, language, and notions of national belonging.

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Rachel Small

Experienced editor with a passion for fiction, travel (on the page and in real life), and stories that move and inspire.